YOUR LOCAL

How to Support Local Businesses This Season

Discover the many ways you can celebrate, honor and support local businesses this month.

By Stina D’Uva

This festive month is a perfect time to acknowledge the change in the West Orange Chamber’s leadership, to celebrate their service and show the ways we can support them and all our business members. This year, we’re doing all of that at “It’s A Wrap — Celebrating and Honoring Our Own,” an event that will see the passing of the gavel from 2020 Chairwoman Deborah Rios-Barnes with CenturyLink to our incoming Chairwoman Camille Evans with Virtus Law.

This transition is momentous in our chamber’s history because Deborah is our first Hispanic, female chair of the board of directors, and she passes on the leadership to our first African American, female chair. Also notable is that the leadership is passing from big business to small business, demonstrating that our chamber is made up of businesses in varying sizes, industries and geography.

This event will also honor business and community leaders who shaped the

Deborah Rios-Barnes Camille Evans

economic recovery efforts in Orange County. We will name our big business and small business members of the year and celebrate many others who made a difference in our community, especially during this most challenging year.

There will be something for everyone and, most importantly, our members will get a first-hand view of the many products and services our members provide all year, which also make wonderful holiday gifts. The door prizes donated by the chamber’s board of directors are all purchased from our member businesses to demonstrate doing business with our own. We’re happy to have the opportunity to showcase them to our members so that they, too, have local options for gift giving.

You’ve all seen shop local campaigns. The chamber has always been about shopping local and shopping chamber.

You can join the effort to support our businesses by shopping for gifts that are both usual and unusual, representing both the “wants” and the “needs” on the lists of your loved ones. We have restaurants, boutiques, hardware stores and wine shops, if your gift tastes go to the more common. However, you may want to purchase less common gifts that provide services ranging from car detailing to window washing.

Discover our membership by visiting wochamber.com and typing in search words to find the member that can provide uncommon, thoughtful gifts for your friends and family. They will love the gift even more because they know you shopped local and you supported a business that supports the community.

Here’s another thought: For the business person who has everything, or almost everything, give the gift of a membership in the West Orange Chamber of Commerce. We have many levels to choose from and can mail the membership packet, wrapped nicely in a bow.

All of us at the West Orange Chamber of Commerce would like to wish you a happy holiday season!